Ringing Cell Phones Banned in New York Theaters

Thanks, language hat, for letting me know about this. It's about time they passed a law. It's going to be tough to enforce, but maybe it will help a bit. Read on for my proposal on how to fix this.

Actually, I've been wishing they'd just jam the signals completely, but that's probably too severe. Doctors, for instance, need to be reachable, and still deserve to have personal lives. Here's my proposal: cell phones should be required to respond to a noise suppression directive from short-range transmitters in theaters, restaurants, and public transportation vehicles. This wouldn't work for old phones, but many people replace theirs regularly enough that this would clear things up quickly.

The NY Times story on the new law has some great anecdotes about actors stopping the show, not to mention the "Miss Saigon" chorus member with a vibrating cell phone in her bikini. Sheesh.